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Faisal is a San Francisco based lifestyle photographer who currently shoots with a Leica M 240 rangefinder camera. These are his thoughts.

One Year Later

A few words reflecting on one year of photography

Twelve months, eight lenses, five cameras, and two tripods later, I've finally crossed one year of photography. Having gone through most of the major camera brands — Nikon, Canon, Fuji, and Sony — I've come to the simple realization that I'm addicted to buying and trying the latest gear. Technology is what keeps me up at night. I love reading about and experimenting with the most cutting-edge technology available. This addiction is what led me to ditch DSLRs and adopt mirrorless technology.

Because of my background and work experience with software, post-processing is what I look forward to the most when it comes to photography. Computers have always been second nature to me, so naturally, post-processing is just an extension of that. My editing process consists of Lightroom 6 and VSCO Film. I have a custom import action that applies the correct lens profile, my standard VSCO filter (this changes every few months), and sharpening settings. I then tweak exposure and white balance to my liking. That's pretty much all I do in most cases.

In more extreme cases, where the results are not up to liking, I'll usually drive deep into the HSL panel and refine individual colors. The most common scenario for this is adjusting skin tones. Because VSCO Film does not officially support the Sony A7II yet, there aren't any custom camera profiles to match the custom filters, so occasionally I'll end up with some really orange skin tones. Adjusting the luminance and saturation of orange is a simple and quick fix.

Now

One Year Ago

If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment. Thanks.